Bengals' tackling ills not under wraps

Recent games have seen uncharacteristic mistakes

12:04 AM,
Dec. 19, 2013

Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown gets around a tackle attempt by Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick on Sunday. Missed tackles have been a problem for the Bengals the past two weeks, and they'll really be a problem Sunday against Adrian Peterson and the Vikings if nothing is done. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Written by

Joe Reedy

If there has been one constant trademark of a Mike Zimmer defense, it has been that they are disciplined in tackling. That hasn't been the case the past couple of weeks.

After one of their worst tackling games against Indianapolis, the trend continued in last Sunday's 30-20 loss to the Steelers. According to STATS LLC, the Bengals have had 16 missed tackles the past two weeks, including eight against Pittsburgh.

Going into Week 14, the most missed tackles the Bengals had in a game was six in Week 7 at Detroit. They were averaging 4.3 per game at that point. With 67 missed tackles on the season, they ...